


Superficiality and Beauty

by sunset_oasis



Series: Rhythms of Love [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Optimistic Ending, listen i always find marietta interesting and it's fun writing about her, seeing from her perspective and all that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 18:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10577079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_oasis/pseuds/sunset_oasis
Summary: At first, he just asked her out on a library date to pick up her brains for the upcoming OWLs. At first, she just agreed because she knew it’d make all the girls in her dorm envious.  Things change.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Marietta always knew she wasn’t pretty.  Cho was the pretty one, with her long elegant dark hair and exotic Asian facial features – plus, she played Quidditch too.  Boys _liked_ Cho – from Triwizard Champions to Ravenclaw second years who had a crush to elder Slytherins they had giggled about in the Ravenclaw dorms when they were younger, fascinated by the bad boy aura.

Marietta was used to that.  And she was _fine_.  Mostly, anyway.  Hey, she’s a Ravenclaw, right?  Who cared about beauty or anything superficial like that?  Her grades were better and that was what mattered, right? And her Arithmancy was top of the class, too.  Even though the grade difference was probably caused by Cho’s Quidditch training taking up her time – the fact remained that Marietta’s grades were better.

So Marietta was fine with it.   _Really_.  Because she didn’t care about something as superficial as beauty so she definitely wasn’t jealous in anyway.

Except that a small part of her always knew that if she had to convince herself of this every single day, she probably cared a hell lot more than she’d liked.

 

* * *

 

Marietta felt a rush of victory mixed with satisfaction when all her dorm-mates gasped in awe and envy when she told them Blaise Zabini had asked her out on a library date.  Tall, dark, and handsome Blaise Zabini.  Every housemate of hers had probably dreamt about dating him at some point, because he was just that type of guy.

In all honesty, Marietta knew that Zabini was probably just hoping to pick up her brains for his upcoming Arithmancy OWLs.  It was painfully clear about that when after a few charming words and flattery she’d almost believed for a tenth of a second, he started asking questions about Arithmancy.  Marietta wasn’t stupid, nor was she delusive enough to think that he actually considered her pretty.  But, well, it wasn’t as if she was actually romantically interested in him anyway and the fact remained that Blaise Zabini, whatever his motives were, asked her out on a library date and the other girls were all for once jealous of her rather than Cho.

And that felt _good_.

So, who the hell cared what exactly Zabini’s motives were?  Plus, he must’ve acknowledged her as smart and intelligent to come to her for help on school subjects and hey, she was a Ravenclaw, of course she was proud that people noticed her for the traits she valued the most.

 

* * *

 

Sixth year was stressful for Marietta.  Heavy schoolwork, plus getting involved in some illegal underground group led by a boy who the Ministry considered as a liar and a mother working in the Ministry. How was that ever supposed to end up well?

And it didn’t.  She really couldn’t say it was a surprise.

One weekend when they were in the library, Blaise – Marietta wasn’t sure when had he changed from Zabini to Blaise in her mind but anyway he just had – eyed her with a frown she’d almost thought as concerned if she believed he was capable of feeling concerned towards her. “You know, it’s dangerous of you to have joined Potter’s little rebellion group.”

Shock flashed in her eyes before she said coolly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Blaise rolled his eyes and leant back against his chair drawled, “Please, even someone as thick as Umbridge is starting to get suspicious, to think that _I_ would miss those kind of thing going on is, frankly, insulting.”  Then his look turned thoughtful, “Though I suppose you aren’t really allowed to talk about it to outsiders.”

She stared at him, hard, without saying anything.

He leant slightly towards her, “I won’t force you to admit anything to me, but you should think about what I’ve said.  It’s getting more and more dangerous to be involved with something like that.  Word of advice – back out when you’ve still got a chance, or it won’t be pretty.”

She couldn’t help but sneer at him, “And why do you care?  Afraid to lose an Arithmancy tutor?”  Because that was all she ever was to him anyway, wasn’t it? (And she didn’t care.  Really didn’t.)

He flashed his perfect white teeth at her in a grin, “Thought you had no idea what I was talking about?”  Then, in an instant, his grin morphed into a more genuine smile, though Marietta reminded herself that nothing could be genuine when dealing with someone like Blaise Zabini. “Well, not just a tutor, but also a pleasant companion.”

She refused to be tricked by his sweet words, his flattery; she refused to fall for all the things that Blaise Zabini was best at.  Marietta reined in whatever emotions she was feeling right now and said calmly, “Flattery won’t get you everywhere, you know.”

He smirked, sounding casual but there was an underneath careful neutrality in his voice she didn’t miss, “Well, I was actually testing how far would honesty get me tonight, you know?”

 

* * *

 

She was nothing more than a ladder towards higher Arithmancy grades.  At first.  Nothing unusual, since everyone and everything was some sort of ladder in a way – towards a higher place in the hierarchy of Slytherin, towards a considerate sum of money, towards an invitation to some fanciful party … towards pretty much everything that he wanted, really.  Blaise was practical.

Of course, he’d always knew she probably knew about his motives and he’d had a few shrewd suspicions about her motives in continuing this as well.  He was sharp enough to realize her insecurity and her jealousy towards her friend Cho Chang and dating him must’ve boosted her standing in her circle of Ravenclaw friends. He didn’t mind, as long as it was beneficial towards both party then it was a good arrangement, in Blaise’s calculative mind.

He didn’t anticipated in gradually finding her more and more interesting during the study sessions.  At first, the small talks were all part of the pretense, but he’d started to enjoy them after a while.  She was smart and insightful about a lot of stuff and funny and he found himself genuinely liking her.  Plus, she was a bit of cynical on a lot of things and that just struck a chord with him too.

He’d long suspected about Potter running some illegal group but he was never sure of the exact members aside from Potter and his two best friends, but after a while of detail observing he’d come to the conclusion that his interesting, witty Arithmancy tutor might be part of this too.

Blaise usually wasn’t the one who cared about how a bridge might burn once he crossed a river, but – something inside him told him that he’d regret it if he didn’t at least try to warn her about it.  If she chose not to listen, then that was her choice and he’d already done his part.

 

* * *

 

It turned out, she did listen.  Although he could tell that she was pretending that his words didn’t have any effect on her. He could see her mind whirling about all sorts of possible outcomes of this and he again admired her analytic brain and hoped she made the sensible decision.

“It’s not that simple to just back out, though,” one night she said with a scowl on her face and he briefly marveled at how they’d started out with not-so-sincere flattery and Arithmancy tips to talking about their problems now. “If Umbridge somehow managed to get her hands on … well, I can’t say what is it but—”

He got the implication.  There was a name list of some sort.

“You could always preemptive a strike,” he suggested.

She frowned, “I don’t want to betray my friends …” but he could see that she was also worried about her family, about her mom in the Ministry.

“They’re not all your friends,” he pointed out calmly. “I know the Chang girl is, but are you really that familiar with anyone else in it?  Well, tell Umbridge you’re both spies or whatever.  I’m sure she’d be pleased enough with you bringing this bit of information that she wouldn’t mind letting your best friend off too.”

 

* * *

 

Marietta had to admit, Blaise was making sense.  And as her thoughts drifted to her mother’s delicate position in the Ministry, a decision was starting to form inside her brain.  Of course, she briefly thought about what Hermione Granger said about the spell she put on the name list … but it couldn’t be that bad, right?  It was surely just to be something minor … no big deal.  Acceptable sacrifice.

Determination flashed in her eyes and she saw his approving smile and her heart fluttered just the tiniest bit at the approval.  While he probably would never think of her as pretty, she was glad that he found her smart and sensible.  As a Ravenclaw should be.

 

* * *

 

She told herself that it was not a big deal, that she was fine with the word ‘SNEAK’ spelled across her forehead.  It wasn’t as if she was pretty to begin with.  It wasn’t as if she couldn’t just cover it with her hair or something.  It was, acceptable sacrifice, after all.

But she still cried every night for a whole week after the incident.

He found her, her eyes red and puffy, in their usual spot at the library that Thursday evening.  Her body tensed the moment she realized that he was approaching, which he noticed but it didn’t deter him as he took the seat beside her with his usual grace.

“So, what has Granger’s little revenge spell done to your forehead?” Unlike his usual pretense or subtle sarcasm, Blaise cut straight to the point this time.

Marietta bit her lips, annoyed at him figuring her out.  But then, how could he _not_ figure out when she’d covered her forehead?  She wondered whether she hated him for convincing her to do this.  She wasn’t sure.

“I’ll have to look at it to fix it,” he said casually, taking a small toolkit out of his bag. “Courtesy of Mother – she said this fixes every skin problem.  I’m inclined to believe her, she’s somewhat an expert on these stuff …” He flashed his most disarming smile at her and asked, “so … may I take a look?”

“If I say no?” Marietta sniffed, not sure why she was being difficult just like she wasn’t sure whether she hated him for this or not.

He scrutinized her for a moment before shrugging, “I find it hard to believe that you’d like to keep that, I’d thought as someone who likes me your taste in fashion is supposed to be good, but hey, it’s your own choice.”

Marietta spluttered at his casualness and the fact that he just so naturally said that she liked him, but Blaise continued on, not giving her a chance to express her indignation, “But if you’re angling for showing everyone how mean Granger is and garnering sympathy I suppose I can understand your motives. Though I’d suggest uncovering your forehead to maximize the effect.”

Upset and sadness and outrage that had been boiling inside her for the past few days seemed to reach a high point and suddenly she just felt like not suppressing her emotions anymore, and Marietta’s hand flew into the air and aimed at Blaise’s face but before she could slap him he caught her hand deftly in the midair, “Quiet – if you’d like to fight, I suggest we move to my dorms – wouldn’t want Pince to come barging in anytime now, do we?”

 

* * *

 

Somewhere in between her sobs (muffled by a charm he cast to prevent Pince from investigating) he managed to convince her to come to his dorm anyway.  The fighting didn’t occur, instead the time were spent with her complaining about all sorts of unfairness in life and he humming in response while carefully fixing her forehead.

Whatever charms the toolkit had, it worked. She mumbled a quick thanks in embarrassment followed by something like, “Though I’m still ugly in my original looks, Cho is always the prettier one.”

He raised a perfect eyebrow at her which only reminded her of how extremely good looking he was and the wide gap between their appearance scores.  She scowled at him before he said anything, “Don’t try to tell me otherwise, I’d know you’re just lying.”

He gave her an unfathomable look before saying, “You know the saying – there’s no ugly women, just lazy ones.  Sometimes you Ravenclaws are so proud of pursuing knowledge that you feel the need to show disdain in people pursuing beauty, too.  Honestly, it won’t kill you to try to put a little effort into making yourself look better – and there are all sorts of tips to fix all sorts of features if you’d just care to learn.”  He smirked, “But people like you would rather continue wallowing in self-pity rather than actually fix that, is that some sort of strange kink that you get a kick out of?”

“Just because I’m not superficial and don’t give a damn about looks that doesn’t mean—” she began, visibly annoyed.

He burst out laughing in amusement, “But you do care – that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Seriously, nothing wrong with being _superficial_ , as you put it.  Superficiality is highly-underrated these days I’d say …”

She glared at him, clenching her teeth and hating the vulnerable feeling of being seen through, being found out that she’d cared about her looks all along but never wanted to admit that, “Yeah? Since you’re so smart, what kind of tip do you have to offer?”

He grinned at her, his eyes shining in a way she couldn’t understand and said, “Well, first, beautiful accessories always help – pretty things added onto you often makes you prettier … might I recommend myself?”

She gasped, temporarily forgetting all her misery and distress and annoyance and stared at his audacity in suggesting that, while he supplied with a smirk, “This is your cue to say ‘good advice, I think I’ll try it.’”

She blinked, at the handsome boy with chocolate-dark skin and beautiful high cheekbones in front of her, before saying, “I’ll try it – if it doesn’t work, you’ve got some answering to do.”

“It’s a deal, then, _darling_.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: ff-sunset-oasis.tumblr.com


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